Did I say YET? Sure enough, a couple of weeks later Corsair captures the ship with the Flash Voyager GT 128GB. Sailing ahead in not so unchartered waters anymore, 32.6 MB/s read and 28.8 MB/s write are the incredible transfer speeds.

Reserving a first class compartment, the Super Talent Luxio is the latest 128GB flash drive to jump on the bandwagon. With its luxury furnishing, it’s not rolling as fast as the Voyager but with 256-bit AES encryption, it’s the safest yet.

Matching the same encryption standard but on the less secure software basis, the Integral Titan establishes itself with a unique ID feature. Looking suspiciously like the EdgeTech DiskGo, this happy size aluminium titan is primarily tailored to the British.

Jetting from Britain to Taiwan, the Team X091 offers the world one of the fastest 128GB flash drives. According to some sources it should even be the fastest due to its 4 channel technology, with up to 31MB/s writing speed. Equally outstanding is the chessboard pattern which may or may not prove to be a smart move. Either way, patience shall not be required with this king, knight & castle in one.

And speaking of so called Quad-Channel technology, Corsair aims to trump all competitors. Hoisting the sails even higher that then previous GT (see above), the enhanced Flash Voyager GTR blazes away with a minimum of 34MB/s write and 28MB/s read.

So let’s reflect a little. As we can see we have many models now with amazing speeds and capacities – so what else could we possibly ask for? Time to rest on our laurels and simply enjoy these recent tech accomplishments? No, not quite. Enjoy, sure. But rest? Mwahahaha. Say hello to the first 128GB USB 3.0 drives – by Super Talent!

Previously the market was swamped with fakes only and it’s likely that they will still be around for a while. As a matter of fact, the fraudsters are probably more encouraged than ever. Because as the 128GB flash drive is now a fact, customers may become less suspecting and hence easier prey. Especially if the official price tag is perceived as too high. There have been forged 32 and 64GB memory sticks so the precedence is set.

This one’s fake: Supposed 128GB Flash Drive from the Kingston DataTraveler 100 series

My advice to you: Still be careful! Only buy 128GB flash drives from brand names AND reputable sellers. Make sure you can verify a model’s official existence as fake ones have been audaciously sold as Sony or Kingston. Even as the official models yet hidden inside are just lower capacities from the same series or some other chip. Places where you may find this variety of deceptions are internet auctions or foreign markets, possibly even stores.

To give you an example, just recently my friend scottmo on Twitter told me his father brought him a Sony 128GB flash drive from China. Actually it was labelled as 120GB and indeed that’s what it said in the properties on his computer – apparently verifying the amazing yet oddball storage capacity. But when actually tested, it turned out that no more than 60GB could be transferred. Then the flash drive locked up. Here’s a screenshot of the properties (thanks to Scott):

So when you see a picture like this it doesn’t have to mean anything, especially if it’s boastfully advertised.

While it may be hard to always keep up with recent technology and cope with everyday’s information clutter it’s rather easy to take a cautious approach and first verify the claims of a seller or brand. And most importantly, check the price! If its going for less than $200 or offers bidding from $0 on, chances are you looking at a fake. If you don’t care about these signs – well, then it’s “buy at your own risk”. For deeper information on the subject of forgeries feel free to read my ezine article 128 GB Flash Drives – Fake Or Fact?

Thankfully the real deal is out now too and I’m sure that the manufacturers together with reputable stores and retailers will keep a close eye on any fraudulent activities. Let’s face it, none of them want their reputations harmed or damaged. And nobody wants frustrated or dissatisfied consumers. So do others and yourself a favor and report any suspicious 128GB flash drive listings you come across.

Only go for the real deals from the brands listed above, even if that means spending a good amount of money.At least it will be worth the investment!

In conclusion, below is a chart illustrating how much you can store on 128GB. As you can imagine, its LOTS of stuff.

[...] With the first official release by Kingston, 128GB flash drives are the current cream of the crop. The first memory stick to have the honor of carrying 128GB is now the DataTraveler 200. The World’s first 128GB Flash Drive: Kingston DT200 (@ ) or Here are the specifications:- Durable, black plastic body – Concealable USB connector via sliding mechanism – Transfer rate: 20MB/sec. Read the original here: 128GB Posted by: DT : Category: Capacities [...]

I saw your article on my mobile when I was traveling on a train to my relatives home. It was a time pass and good gain of knowledge to me. I love technologies and I would keep track of it. 256GB flash drive was an amazing news in your article. Thank you very much. I will be waiting for more. And sorry about my english… Bye

Dennis I must say that you did a good job! You have covered so many flash drive of 128 GB. This article will help to every one who wants to purchase 128 gb flash drive. They can get many alternatives for that!

Where do you come from? I assume it’s the UK? If you check the following link you can see that 128GB flash drives are available there too:128GB Pen Drives UK
As a matter of fact, there’s the 128GB Integral Titan which seems to be specifically tailored to the UK market.

That is quite amazing. Below your article in the Ebay adds which are displayed is also a faked USB stick offered. You agree that a 128GB stick with starting price 0.99 Euro and no reserve can only be a fake?

Does anyone here own the Kingston DT 200 (128GB)? I am thinking of picking one up, and would like to know what people think of it.

BTW, I wrote to Kingston recently, and asked them if they have any plans to release the 256GB in North America. They cited two reasons for not wanting to do this at the current time: 1) They are targeting the European (and other) market; and 2) they mentioned something having to do with the number of chips available. I did not understand the last part, and did not ask for clarification.

Mike,
it could be a sign that its fake but not necessarily. A lot of auctions on ebay start with that price so that the seller doesnt have to be billed a higher starting price fee. If its a very expensive item it usually ends up with a proper winning bid amount. Nonetheless, you’re right in the attitude that one should always be on the watch – even if the item is presented as an officially existing model.

Thanks Scott. I wish I would own a DataTraveler 200, but who knows what the future will bring.

Interesting information about the DT300. Previously, Kingston’s website stated that this model could be directly ordered from them, strictly on demand. I guess one reason the US market isnt targeted at this time is the economy. The good thing about ebay is that you can get your hands on products worldwide and so far I’ve seen genuine listings for the DT300 from Germany and Australia.

Update: Kingston is now releasing the DT310, which is a 256GB flash drive just for the US market.

Bin Bin,
all the models listed above are genuine 128GB flash drives. I do not sell them myself as I only link to the sellers. I cannot give you a guarantee whether you will end up with a fake or real one but chances are good if you look for listings above at least $200 and that are from reputable sellers as well as reputable countries.

the DataTraveler 200 (128GB) I refer to in reply 18.
ended with US $86.74 on Ebay Belgium. It is highly unlikely that this is a genuine flash drive as DataTraveler 200 (128GB) retail online for US $350.
Nobody would sell it for 25% of the normal price. So it is a fake.

What I find disturbing is that you write on you web site about high capacity flash drives and also have articles about faked flash drives and at the same time link to Ebay auctions with faked flash drives.

128gb storage to the size of my lipstick is really really cool. Where I am only 64gb is the highest yet. It would be really awesome if 128gb is around. But then again when we receive the 128gb pen drives, who knows, may be a higher capacity pen drive will be available. The beauty of technology.

Interestingly, I saw about six items on Ebay for the DT128 yesterday, including two or three ‘buy it now’ entries. But when I enlarged the image on two of them, the box read: DT 100! I’m guessing that this had to be a fake.

If I purchase one of these, I feel as though I should do so through Kingston. The good news is that I would be getting the genuine item; the bad news is that it costs quite a bit more there than it does via Amazon.com.

Mike,
I understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately, I cannot control whether fake or genuine listings get displayed through my Ebay plugin (WordBay). I wish I could! The only things I can limit are the search parameters such as “128GB DataTraveler”, “Super Talent 128GB” etc. What the plugin then picks out from around the world is beyond my control. I could filter out countries but I don’t really want to do this as that would apply to my entire site instead of a page per page basis. Besides, I don’t want to engage in country discrimination and surely every country has good and bad apples. Hence my careful wording in the post too. As always, the final responsibility lies with you – the buyer. So be cautious in your decisions and take note of what I outlined in my comments and post.

Yeah, the methods scammers come up with can be pretty amazing…or stupid, depending on how you look at it. In defense though, its not uncommon that Ebay sellers erroneously put up the wrong product image or title. Its best to contact the seller then.

Update: Some relatively cheap ebay listings for the 128GB DataTraveler 200 do appear genuine as the sellers buy them wholesale and just “pass them on”. Example: Kingston DataTraveler 200 128 GB

I have contacted some of these sellers to see if I can somewhat verify this. Of course it would be better if the buyers were to comment about their experiences here. Some of theses sellers have 100% positive feedback for over 200 entries or more so it seems to be the real thing, unless they are being duped by the wholesellers themselves. Other sellers have a feedback of less than 10, some even 0, so its pretty obvious to stay away from these.

Also, entries such as “1,5 MB/s transfer speed”, or “i was recently told that Kingston flash drives are not good… i was told that they crash… so far any of mines haven’t. so i doubt that the ones I’m selling will crash. If it so happens (god forbids it does) crash… please forgive me. i bought them wholesale.” are dead giveaways. LOL. I also would be suspect of any Asian stickers on the packaging regardless of the selling location. Just use common sense, folks.

Hello,
I’m in Indonesia.So far I try to get information how could I get Sony Flashdisk 128Gb because my daughter had a problem(she lost her friend’s flashdisk 128gb that was bought in China).I had many difficulties to change it.I have tried to find it to Singapore and Malaysia but I found nothing.I know that it’s a fake in capacity,but my daughter’s friend just want to be changed with the same brand,not others.I’m waiting your information/reply. Thanks.

Joko,
you’re right. There is no such thing as a *genuine* Sony 128GB flash drive. So if your daughter lost one then I say good riddance!

If she wants to make up for the loss to her friend, then why dont you buy a real Sony disk with authentic capacity? You can check out the following post for an overview and where to buy.

However, if you want to maintain the illusion of a 128GB Sony disk towards your daughter’s friend all you have to do is go to Ebay and search for “Sony 128GB USB”. Though I have to wonder why you’d wanna do that and if that would be considered “doing your friend a favor”.

Update: After I contacted several sellers that appear to offer genuine as well as fake 128GB flash drives I got a few replies back, probably from 1/3. Basically I had advised/warned the sellers of the situation and that the only test for authentic 128GB is a maximum data transfer. I am publishing the answers here and you can make of them what you will. Personally, I like the last one as it pretty much sums up the attitude of the fraudsters. Fortunately there are also sellers that seem responsible and genuinely concerned.

Collection of seller answers:

Thank you for the question, Dennis. I do not see this as a fake product. I tested mine out today and they and the last one that I tested showed it to have 134.18gb storage capacity. I purchased it as genuine. It was sold to me as genuine. My supplier told me that it was genuine. I believe it to be genuine. It tests out as genuine. The packaging tells me that it is genuine. The serial number on the outside indicates that it is
genuine.

I hope this helps. I do not feel comfortable however, sharing the price that I paid for these with you. Sorry…

- bigcrosshoss

After a follow-up I got the following reply:

Thank you for the feedback. I’ll test per your recommendations.

- bigcrosshoss

——————–

Hi there

i have already done the usb test and all seems fine. i have also filled the usb with full data and all is retrievable.

Thanks for your help and advice

- usb-mania

————-

I will check into it. Thanks for the info!

- ermark2010

—————-

THANK U VERY MUCH ..I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT AND I WILL OPEN ONE AND TRY IT BEFORE SEND IT TO ANY CUSTOMER..I PROMISE IF I FOUND IT FAKE I WILL NOT SELL..BEFORE I GET AFRAID ABOUT MY SELLER STAUTS I’M AFRAID FROM GOD..AFTER I TRY IT I CAN TELL BUT TO BE HONEST I DIDN’T TRY IT YET.AGAIN THANK U

- rephone09
—————-

first of, no flash drive nor hard drive actually comes with the advertised space on it… and second i bought mines from china… i have two that works. i also heard that some of them kingston flash drive crashes… i’ve always knew that. i had some of mines that crashed too. i will not lie to you about that. i paid a $100 piece. i just want to make some money back thats all. i can care less how much i spent.

This seller replied to me in Portuguese though my question was in English, across the board. Google translates it as following:This product is not genuine Sony. But this product and genuine 128GB with real 125gb free. where I bought it and not their business. These products are guaranteed by me if any buyer has any problem with the product, I send another back again. If you’re finding very cheap. you can buy me and sell and have good business ..

A big number of positive feedback does not mean a thing. I bought a proven fake 16GB stick from Ebay seller “mamaseller2009″.

Th seller was in operation for a bit more than 5 months only (in 2009) until suspended.

In that short time he sold a lot and collected 4337 positive replies and “only” 51 neutral and 34 negative which still ends with 99.2% positive feedback.

Also at the time I bought, which was some time before suspension, there were almost no negative feedback. That means that the number of positive feedback doesn’t mean a thing.

It also means that those Ebay sellers have big business. In this example there are 4337 positive feedback in only 5 months, that means at least 4337 sold items in 5 months, that in turn means big money!!

Some people estimate that around 70% of sold USB flash drives on Ebay are fakes. I personally think this is not far from the truth and my advice is to be extremely cautions when buying flash drives from Ebay or better not buy any flash drives from Ebay.

And I still find it very objectionable that you link to Ebay auctions on your site which, in my opinion, are also offering fake flash drives. This is objectionable because you write about fake flash drives, how to detect them and about the danger of buying them on Ebay, so people trust links made from this site to Ebay auctions.

Mike,
Thank you for your comment. I understand where you’re coming from. But please understand where I’m coming from too. As I already explained earlier Im just not able to filter out all fake flash drives listings. Its just not possible as the plugin works by Ebay’s live feed and not by something I can pre-select. So the only way this could be achieved is if Ebay itself was to somehow know beforehand when a listing is fake and hence prohibit its publication. Obviously this can’t be done so the only thing I can do as an affiliate is to warn people while at the same time offer them their options. Understand that that is what they simple are – options.

To be clear – any fakes that may appear on my site through the WordBay plugin are not meant as endorsements and should not be seen that way. If you disagree with this Im sorry but then I challenge you to manage an affiliate website that actually is able to block all frauds and link only to real deals – from any retail site. Are you able to do that? The only thing that I can still do is to take off all Kingston DT variations from the WordBay keywords for this page. (I have reluctantly done so now) Thats as much responsibility I can exercise as an affiliate. The other responsibilities are up to the sellers and buyers.

As for your statistic of 70% fakes – do you have a reputable source for this? Because to me that’s utterly ridiculous and sounds like pure, scare-mongering Ebay bashing. 70% of sold 128GB flash drives maybe, but not “70% of sold USB flash drives”. Please dont let one bad Ebay experience (or more) cloud your judgment. Naturally, in a huge marketplace like that you’re bound to have rotten apples but the good apples usually prevail (which means the majority). So again, I kindly submit that your statement isn’t fair due to being so generalizing. You see, caution needs to be exercised with these things too – but I guess you only offered that statement as an option to consider and not as an endorsement, huh?

Well, I wrote to one of the sellers at Ebay regarding the 128GB Kingston flash drive. (The 256 GB flash is new enough that it really isn’t listed more than once there or on Amazon.com yet.) Anyway, I asked this seller if he would be willing to sell me one or two of these. The list price was approximately $380.00 elsewhere, so Ebay seemed like a place where I could save a bit of cash. The seller wrote back and told me he could ship two of them to me for $49.00 each! When I asked him if these sticks were ‘the real deal,’ his response left me a bit concerned as to whether these were genuine or fakes. So I decided not to purchase any of the 128GB flash drives from him. Now I have my eyes on the 256 GB.

Scott,
good for you! If you go to my 256GB flash drive page you can see that there’s at least one 256GB available on Ebay now (from the US). Im pretty positive that this is genuine but of course you can feel free to contact that seller too. As for my own seller replies, just see my comment no 33.

I kind of stumbled unto your site by accident but wanted to point something out.

People think that just because these 128gb+ sticks retail for $300+ that it is an indication that a product is probably fake if it’s being sold for $100 or less on eBay.

While I’m not saying there aren’t fakes the fact is – when you think about the manufacturing costs – do you really think there is much of a difference between mass producing a 32gb stick vs. a 128gb stick? No! Maybe a few pennies a piece.

These sticks cost $10-$30 a piece (yes that’s correct!) when you order them from distributors and wholesalers in large quantities from China. The reason a retailer whether that be on or offline charge $300+ is because they can – the market dictates that price. e.g. a 32gb costs $150 so why would they sell you the 128gb for $100 when people are still more than willing to pay $150 for 1/4th the storage? Get it?

Meanwhile on eBay it is not everyone’s intention to sell for maximum profit – they can still make some decent coin selling way below what you consider “retail”. e.g. A seller on eBay who buys 100 pieces is more than happy to make $50 per piece whereas a retailer who buys 10000 pieces will milk you dry because they know they can and they know you WILL PAY that price and they are all about the bottom line.

It’s funny how uninformed the vast majority of the population is and how brainwashed we’ve been to believe that a lot of these things actually are “worth” nearly as much as we pay for them. It’s a piece of plastic with a little circuit board inside, it’s not a Ferrari…off to order 1000 pieces and make an online store so I can sell it for $300 to all you suckers.

DT, I didn’t mean to offend just trying to make a point. I buy things just like everyone else I’m a sucker too.

Think about this though, how would people feel if they walked into their favorite electronics retailer to go buy a 128gb usb stick. They find it and see the price tag says $300. Below the price it says, our cost for this product was $20, we are making $280 when you buy this usb stick?

Would people still buy it? Would they be disgusted? Would they think the product is “cheap”?

The fact is marketing has a lot to do with what we are willing to pay for an item. Go look at some eBay auctions for the same product (not necessarily usb sticks) and try to figure out why seller 2 sold the exact same product for 20%+ or more than seller 1. Feedback aside, a lot of it has to do with the way the seller presents the item.

Usually the Ebay seller that ends up with more money than the other is the one that puts more effort into the images and description of the product. And of course, the seller conditions play a role too. Anyway – I may be naive, but I doubt that the pricing discrepancy you cite above is realistic. But even if it is, I think in the end it comes down to how valuable the consumer considers a product to be – and that may often be a lot more than the actual production and presentation may warrant. Its up to the individual.

Don’t you people think we won’t need that much space in a USB for at least 3 to 4 more years or else we have to match the data transfer rate with that of a hard disk to ensure that it is an attraction.

Mike, Im pretty sure some people enjoy that much flash drive space – including me – even if the speed is behind HD rates. It depends on whatever aspects you value more (speed, space, portability, etc) and besides, its not like you have to use 128GB for single 5GB files. Having said all that, USB 3.0 is around the corner so the speeds will vastly improve and probably outdo regular hard drives.

Dang, that’s a lot of flash drives. I wonder if these things are worth so much more than an equally priced (and much larger, both physically and memory-wise) hard drive.
.-= Cleow @ Short Stories´s last blog post ..Humans Can Lick Too, My Beautiful =-.

Brandes, if you’re lucky you can find the real deal for $300 or so by now. I’ve seen a few genuine ebay listings like that lately hence I’ve lowered the price range bar to $200. Most of the fake listings start with $0 or some ridiculously low price like $30.

Chris, since there are several 128GB models on the market the price can range anywhere between $300 and $550. So its best to check the links for price fluctuations. In case you can get a “used” listing the price should be cheaper of course, but then ask yourself why somebody would sell it used. That could be just another disguise for the faked ones.

I just picked up a 64gb, I can’t even begin to think of what I’d put on it, let alone having twice as much space! I also heard recently of Kingston’s 256gb stick that is on the prawl. These flash drives are becoming more like external hard drives!

Anil, 5GB is kind of an odd capacity. I do have a post on it but usually there aren’t any real USB flash drives out there with 5GB. SSD hard drives, yes. As for shipping to Asia, why not? You have to check/inquire with the eBay listings if any of the sellers (are willing to) ship there. Some sell worldwide but be weary of those selling from Asia themselves – like I posted, most likely those 128GB drives are fake.

Awesome. These are some amazing products. It still stuns me that just a few years ago you would struggle to get a hdd that big, and now you can have 128GB on your keyring.
.-= alex johnson´s last blog post ..open ebay business =-.

hi there you are wirght usb flash drive key chains at 128 gb flash drive but you are wrong kingston travler 300 at 256 gb is the largest usb flash drive key chain its for sale for a rediculus price on the internet the cheapest is $650 for 256 gb usb flash drive and the highest retailer has the travler 300 listed at $1,100

Even though this article isn’t brand new, I still think 128gb is absolutely massive. It’s quite surprising how fast technology is changing though – what will be the biggest size next year? At the moment my little 2gb Cruzer seems to do the trick. All the best, Mark.

Hai Nam,
I dont have a price list since I dont sell the drives myself. You need to browse through the different brands and categories to the left and click on the seller links to get an overview of pricing (which btw, can differ widely).

Is it as bulky as it looks in the photo? Ideally the answer is yes, as the last few flash drives I’ve bought have all been broken within months due to poor quality and just generally not as strong as they could be. I’m someone that needs good functionality as well as form! Jonny

Dee,
if you mean how to test the 128GB capacity then there’s only one way to really make sure – and that is to transfer actual 128GB worth of data from a laptop or whatever (well, technically its a bit less than 128GB that would fit on the flash drive). I guess you would have to ask the seller to do a live test demonstration. But still be wary – ensure that the files transferred really do represent ~128 and aren’t faked in any way.

Awesome post. These are amazing usb flash drive model you list out. It really stun me now with the availability of 128gb usb thumb drive with just a keyring size. Technology is indeed changing very fast.

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